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Finding your puppies the perfect home is a major responsibility. In today’s world, the majority of puppy sales happen online- and that means, your babies need excellent pictures to help the perfect families find them!
Learn quick and easy tips to ensure your pups sell beginning with stunning puppy pictures!
Step 1: Start with Quality Puppies
No matter how amazing your pictures are, your price can only be as good as your puppies. If you’re hoping to turn a profit, follow these tips to produce top notch babies.
Then, be sure every puppy is raised with a quality start to life to ensure physical health, mental health, great social skills, and longevity.
That’s a puppy that a family would be thrilled to add to their home! That’s a pup who can be accurately portrayed in beautiful pictures!
Step 2: Create an Eye-Catching Background
Look for background items that can be staged to create a home-y, comfortable, cozy look. Make your pictures inviting!
Cloth backdrops are easy to use, quick to clean, and come in a variety of textures and colors. Avoid any colors that clash with the puppy- such as a black puppy on a dark background.
Adding a few props, such as flowers, vases, wooden items, antiques, etc can add excitement to the picture. Don’t let the props overpower the puppy- the pup should be the star of the picture! You’ll find lots of cute nick-nacks around the house, or at garage sales/thrift stores, that go a long way to creating a better picture!
Outdoor settings are adorable as well and really show the pup in an ideal environment! Embrace whatever season you are in- take pictures with pumpkins or colorful leaves in the fall, or snow pictures in the winter (just don’t let the pup get too cold), or in a flowerbed during the summer! This is actually a great way to show potential buyers that you’re not a scam- they’ll see that the pup is actually being raised right now, instead of a scammer who will steal images of a puppy online.
Avoid group pictures- this makes it difficult for a potential family to identify which puppy is being described.
Avoid pictures of the puppy in a pen or kennel.
Avoid holding the puppy in the picture- you get in the way of the pup! There’s nothing more lazy than holding the pup up against a white background and snapping a pic on the phone. Those are low quality images and they portray low quality onto the dog.
Avoid pictures that hide part of the puppy, unless you’ve got other pictures to show the whole baby.
Avoid tacky, overdone themes. Be creative!
Step 3: The Puppy’s Mood
You’ll never get a good picture of a puppy who isn’t ready for her photoshoot! Put in the preparation to make your time and effort worth it.
Be sure to bathe the puppy, and completely dry her. It’s amazing how good our cameras are nowadays- any little imperfection is sure to show up on camera. I was shocked when I took some of my first puppy pictures only to realize that I could see flecks of kibble around the puppies’ mouths!
Warm the puppy using a heat pad, heat lamp, or warm water bottles. A cold puppy will shiver in the pictures, making pictures blurry. Not only that, but you’ll notice a frown on that poor baby’s face in every picture! PS- a newborn puppy is more likely to relax and fall asleep (adorable!!) for his pictures if you hide a heat pad underneath for him to lay on. Cover it with a cute cloth so that the heat pad doesn’t ruin your background!
Be sure the puppy is fed before pictures (especially newborns) as this can help them settle in and relax for their photoshoot. A hungry baby will think of nothing else through his pictures, and you’ll see him trying to nurse on the items around him.
Take the puppy potty before taking pictures. For newborns, use a warm, damp washcloth or wipe to stimulate the pup’s genitals to go potty. This will save that adorable backdrop you set up from being dirtied by puppy poop and pee!
Consider having a second person nearby to play with the puppy in between pictures to keep the positive energy rolling! We want the puppy to have fun- you will see her smiles in the pictures…. or her frown if she’s not enjoying herself.
Remember that a newborn puppy can’t hear anything, so calling her name won’t make her look at you. But this is a great trick to help an older puppy look directly into the camera. Hold a toy next to the lens, shake a noisemaker, be fun and dynamic to encourage the puppy to smile!
Step 4: Embrace the Puppy’s Personality In your Pictures
Let the puppy explore the photo area. Be sure to get a few pictures of this- a puppy in action is soooo cute! Note that a pup usually needs a few minutes to settle in and show his true colors. Give him time.
Let go of your preconceived ideas of what the puppy should be doing in each picture. Show the puppy’s true personality in the pictures by allowing the puppy to do whatever is comfortable.
A more lazy puppy might lay down. Don’t correct him- just take those cute pictures to show the family what his personality is like! A playful pup might try to bite the flowers in the background. Don’t stop her- just take those pictures to share with the family how much fun she is!
Step 5: Variety is Key
Make a point to get several pictures of each puppy in various positions-
-sitting,
-standing,
-laying down,
-looking at the camera,
-looking away from the camera,
-close up of the puppy’s face,
-a shot showing the puppy’s whole body, etc.
You never know which picture will be the special one that connects your pup to a person’s heart. That picture was worth a million dollars because it helped that puppy find life-long love!
Step 6: Technical Side of Things
Lighting is by far my greatest struggle when taking puppy pictures. In the wrong lighting, a brown puppy might look black- a completely different color and hiding his own unique beauty. We want the pictures to be an exact representation of the pup so that the family knows exactly how perfect our baby is.
There are tricks to manipulate light found here or here. I find that it helps to use a photo box to have consistent lighting results every time. My photo box has cut down on my headaches and produced a better, more accurate representation of each puppy. I highly recommend one if you’re new to photography! Note- Don’t forget to shade the lens of the camera with your hand if the photo box lights are directly above you as you take pictures!
Use a good camera- but unless you’re quite tech savvy, choose one that will be easy to use for a beginner. Some phones have incredible cameras- that could work! I love my Nikkon D7500 and I hear great reviews of the Cannon 4000D.
The puppy is going to move around. Consider using a fast shutter speed. I also like Auto Focus settings and Action settings. These action shots can be a lot of fun- just keep clicking away! Remember to move yourself as well- get a little closer to the pup, now a little farther away, now try a new angle. Don’t get stuck in one position- that will create a boring and repetitive set of images.
Get on the puppy’s level. You’ll want to be at eye level with the pup, not looking down at him from above. If needed, create your picture setup on an elevated surface, such as on a table, but be sure that the puppy does not fall!
Speaking of eyes- make the puppy’s eye the focus of the picture. I LOVE the setting that slightly blurs the background and leaves the pup clear- put the focus point directly on the puppy’s eye and let the rest blur!
Take LOTS of pictures! You did SO MUCH work to bathe, potty, feed, and prepare every puppy. THIS IS IT! I take around 100 pictures of each puppy, hoping for 5-10 decent ones out of the whole lot! Sometimes I get more good pictures, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. There is nothing worse than repeating this whole process after I’ve finished because I didn’t get a shot I was happy with of a certain pup!
Step 7: Edit the Pictures
I’ll be straight with you- I’m a dog breeder, not a photographer. I don’t know much about all the amazing things a computer can do to adjust a picture.
Here’s what I do know- When I open an image on my computer, then click the edit button, there are 4 amazing little toggles that can greatly enhance a picture. I like to play with: Brightness, Exposure, Contrast, and Shadows. Adjust slowly and observe the changes to the image until you’ve found the perfect balance.
Beyond technical editing, it is important to add the puppy’s name to the image. This will help a customer know exactly what puppy they adore. It will make communication easy and help you in your sale.
Use Canva to add text to the image. Include the puppy’s name, male or female, the breed, or any other facts that your buyer will want to know. Having all this included on the image sorts out buyers who would just waste your time asking additional questions and makes room for the serious inquiries.
Note- I highly recommend having a REAL name for each puppy. “Mr. Red” or “Mrs. Green” (after the collar color) isn’t personal, it isn’t connecting, it isn’t fun or adorable or sweet. Finding real names, even if the family changes the puppy’s name after they bring the pup home, creates more of a connection to potential buyers. It also shows your honest love for each puppy. The puppy won’t be confused when the family changes their name later, they are too young to really attach themselves to the name you choose for them.
After pictures are done, think to yourself- does this image show my baby in his very best self?
Does this picture show off the quality of my puppy?
Does this picture show how special my baby is?
If the answers are yes- you’ve accomplished your goal! Those are images that will find your baby the perfect family!
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